Café Life Venice

A Guidebook to the Cafés and Bacari of La Serenissima

Excerpt 1: Bar Aperol

This excerpt is from the San Marco section of the book; it's
taken from an eight-page article on Giorgio Rizzo and the Bar Aperol, a family
business that Giorgio took over from his father in 1965:

La gioventý often visit Mago [Giorgio's nickname,
which means "Magician"] on their way home from a late night on the mainland,
especially those from the Lido. They catch the vaporetto at Piazzale Roma,
and when it stops in front of Bar Aperol, they hop off, pick up a brioche,
tramezzino, or involtino, and then take a shortcut--about ten
minutes on foot--to meet the same lumbering vaporetto at the San Zaccaria
stop 20 minutes later.

In addition to quick and tasty food, you'll want to stop
here for good coffee (somewhat rare in Venice). Giorgio has served Illy
Caffé for a long time. In fact, the company recognized Bar Aperol as
Venice's oldest vender of its coffee--since 1966.

"To make a good coffee," he says, "you need a good blend,
and you have to maintain your coffee machine, just like a car. It has to be
cleaned regularly, you have to make sure to check the filters, and make sure
you have a certain pressure. And then when it comes to the coffee itself--piu
ne fai, piu buoni diventano (the more you make, the better it is). A bar
that makes 1,000 coffees a day will have better coffee than one that makes
50 or 100."